Before
you read any further, I'd like to explain that this week Stricly Rental is
going out of the stores and into the theater to talk about a big movie that
everyone says you should see in the theater, but I think you should wait
until it hits the stores:
Road To Perdition: Yes there are spoilers, bitch, it's a movie review. If
you haven't seen it, maybe you should read something else.
Plot Summary:
OK, so here's the skinny: Tom "Pillsbury" Hanks plays Michael "Angel of
Death" Sullivan, a hit man under the thumb of his surrogate father and mob
boss, John Rooney, played by one grizzly old bastard of a Paul Newman. Tyler
Hoechlin plays Mike Sullivan, Jr, a pipe-smoking paper-boy that has trouble
with math. He hides in his father's car when he and heir to an empire Connor
Rooney (played by Daniel Craig...kind of a b-movie Willem Dafoe) go out
'working'. Little Mikey Jr. watches in horror through a hole in the wall as
his father and 'Uncle Connor' waste a room full of hung-over irishmen.
They find the kid, know he saw the execution, and thus begins our
story...one of murder, betrayal, and loyalty.
Connor Rooney gets nervous that Mike Jr. will squeal, gets drunk, and
decides to take matters into his own hands. He tries to get Hanks killed,
and meanwhile goes to the Sullivan home to murder Mrs. Sullivan (played by a
sorely under-used Jennifer Jason Leigh) and who he thinks is Mike Jr...but
it's Mike's little brother, Peter. Mike Jr. returns home just in time to see
his drunken Uncle Connor leave, and finds his brother and mother dead.
Then Hanks comes home, finds his dead wife and dead son, takes his living
son, and heads to seek employment in the mobs of Chicago. Hanks wants
revenge, but Paul Newman just can't give up his lying, drunken,
stealing-from-his-dad, bastard kid. Instead, he sends out a very creepy Jude
Law to get rid of the remaining Sullivan's.
(Major Spoiler Alert:) Meanwhile, 'Angel of Death' Sullivan just
wants to get his kid safe to Aunts house...in a little town called
Perdition. Hanks decides to steal Al Capone's "dirty money" from banks
around Chicago to force them to give up Connor Sullivan's hiding place,
which eventually, they do. Hanks kills him in the tub.
(Major Spoiler Alert)Thinking everything is peachy-keen, The two
Sullivan's finally make it to the lovely house on the lake in Perdition,
only to find a scarred and surly Jude Law. Jude kills Sullivan Sr, and takes
his picture (just watch the movie). Sullivan Jr. comes into the room, finds
his dad dying, and holds a gun on Jude Law...but he can't kill him. His
father is lying on the floor coughing up blood and the kid can't pull the
trigger...so Tom Hanks does.
The Look And Feel: Beautifully shot film, feels gritty, very dark.
The lighting alone draws almost an emotional response from the viewer.
In Between The Lines:
The message here is you make your own choices, you are not a product of your
surroundings. Throughout the movie we are shown little snippets of
similarities between little Mike Sullivan and his father, Hanks even tells
the kid at one point; "You were more like me, and that's the last thing I
wanted you to be." So even though this kid is exposed to the worst types of
violence, even watches his father get murdered, and he chooses to be good.
Through the kid's narrative at the end, we learn that the day he saw his
father die was the last time he ever held a gun. it shows us that good
things can grow in even the darkest corners.
Stand Out Performances: Just a side note...nearly everyone in the
movie was brilliant, and I don't want to do a character-by-character
breakdown. So I'll pick the heavies, again noting that Jennifer Jason-Leigh
got the shaft...she stole every scene she had a line (both of them!) but
this was not a world for motherly advice, I guess, and her part was a tiny
one.
Tom Hanks: I was surprised, actually. Ol' Tommy has come a long way
since "Bosom Buddies" and "Big". I sat down in the theater expecting...well,
I'm not sure WHAT I expected. But I didn't expect hanks to pull it off, and
he did. Big time.
Jude Law: Yellow teeth, black eyes, and a fixation for taking
pictures of dead bodies makes for a pretty heavy character, and it was
played to perfection by Jude. Normally I hate the swoon-inducing (not in me,
by the way) son of a bitch, but he was the most ruthless killer in a movie
of ruthless killers.
Tyler Hoechlin: This kid is good. For the range of emotions needed
for such a role, you really can't expect a child actor to encompass it
all...or maybe Episode One ruined my opinion of child actors. This kid is
going to be around for a long time I think, and with a movie like this under
his belt, expect many good things.
Stand Out Scene: When Tom Hanks gets justice, Tommy-Gun style. You'll
know what I mean when you see it.
Overall: I felt it was a little over-hyped. I've heard people compare
it to The Godfather which it ain't. It's hard to believe a
movie so full of brilliant performances could fall a little flat, but such
is the case. I didn't really believe Paul Newman's motivations for keeping
his piece-of-shit son around, and a whole lot of the movie felt like a
cliché...but still...it was good. Definitely worth a viewing, but as the
title of this column suggests, maybe you can wait and see it for two-fifty
instead of paying eight bucks just to sit down and be slightly disappointed. |
